Sunday, 16 October 2011

Autumn Cooking Workshops

Over the last two weeks we have imparted three different cookery workshops, which I am pleased to say have been a big success. Originally we had only planned one course for this autumn but due to popular demand we ended up organising three courses.These were informal hands-on course taught by Joe and Samantha with a maximum of six participants where they enjoyed and learnt about the organic and vegetarian food that we serve at Hotel Posada del Valle. Due to the success of these courses we will be organising some more courses for the spring of next year.

And now a note from Joe:

First and foremost thanks to all my pupils for making the courses enjoyable.

I am still shaking; I always go into the kitchen frightened of the questions someone might ask that I can’t answer. My love of cooking comes from getting in the kitchen and seeing what I can make, to me there is only so much you can do with food, certain combinations are better than others, and the secret is not to be afraid, get in and cook. But please don’t get too technical.

As always we started with breads, starting with a basic recipe and then elaborating different textures and flavour; using a bowl and knife, everyone has this equipment in their home, no need for fancy machines. I must say we had some very nice breads too.

A selction of breads made by the participants of one of the courses.

From here we made cakes and roulades, apple cake is a favourite at this time of year with all the apples on the farm, a taste of autumn. As always chocolate and hazelnut, and raspberry and hazelnut are also popular, don’t turn your back while preparing the roulade or suddenly the extra hazelnuts are gone. Thanks Teresa for the extra hazelnut roulade……………..

We made soups and pates, with the option of using pates for further creativity, hopefully no-one will buy hummus again, having seen how easy it is to make and the fact you can make it to your own taste. Guess sales for hummus in Marks and Tesco will go down.

Tasting the wares.

I hope everyone enjoyed the courses and that they will practise what we have done, extending the basic recipes to their own personal creations. Lunch was also an added bonus, tasting our wares, and getting to know each other, all in all a very nice experience, the shaking has stopped.

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Welcome

Hotel Posada del Valle is a small hotel in Asturias Northern Spain surrounded by its own organic farm and where we are passionate about organic farming, food, and sustainable livelihoods. In this Blog those of us who live and work at Hotel Posada del Valle open a door to share with all of you who are interested in what we are doing.